Back in September, Mina Kimes signed a multi-year contract extension to remain at ESPN. While there are many factors that led to her decision to re-up, Kimes just couldn’t give up the great thing she’s got going at the worldwide leader.
Kimes, who is returning from maternity leave, told Awful Announcing that having the familiar faces she’s come to know and love working on NFL Live was one of the big reasons she decided to stick around ESPN a bit longer.
“The biggest reason is I just really love the people that I work with, especially my family on NFL Live,” Kimes said. “It’s a little cliche to call them family, but they really are to me. They’re not only wonderful human beings and amazing to work with every day, but they challenge me, we push each other, and we make what I believe is one of the best shows on television. So just for me, probably the biggest appeal was just working with the people that I love so much there in particular.”
Mina Kimes also said getting the chance to be featured on a number of other ESPN shows was something she didn’t want to pass on.
“That was a big draw with Around The Horn, and First Take, and filling in on shows like PTI,” she said. “That’s obviously very unique to the network.”
Kimes’s podcast produced by Omaha Productions, in addition to her dedicated ESPN YouTube channel, were other contributing factors in her sticking around.
“Last year was when I started working with Omaha on the podcast content, and it was such a terrific experience for me,” she said. “They’re just really creative, driven, content-first people. And so when I was thinking about other opportunities and some of the opportunities came with different podcast partners, a big part of the appeal for me in staying with ESPN was also continuing on with Omaha.”
